By Bailey James
Asking for help is always a nerve-wracking thing. As Americans we are trained from a very young age to be independent and not always trust people who are willing and able to give us the help we sometimes need. However, in the case of addiction, most people have exhausted all outlets of reliability and need drug and alcohol treatment centers to help them regain their balance and health.
As a drug or alcohol addict, you may misuse the family and friends who love you, possibly using tactics that are less than honest, or even illegal. Burning bridges is what usually leads a person to treatment. You often have nowhere else to turn, but want you old life back, or want to begin a new one altogether. It is important to locate a drug and alcohol treatment center that can offer a road back to sobriety. The staff also needs to understand that the choices you have made that brought you to the point of despair and landed you on their doorstep is not who you really are. You have been under the influence of substances that changed the chemicals in your body’s makeup and influenced your behavior in ways that are not characteristic of who you are as a sober and sane person.
Having drug and alcohol treatment centers that you can go to for help can give you hope that you can obtain the life you deserve. Reaching deep into yourself and dealing with the issues they have used substances to run away from gives them a leg up for life. Having medically trained professionals who have either been addicted themselves, or have sufficient experience treating those with habitual problems, can produce a wonderful outcome for you when you really want the help.
Being able to ask for help takes a great deal of strength, despite the thinking that it is a sign of weakness. Knowing that you have done wrong and are trying to make it right is a sign of maturity; willingness to change is an indication of power. Finding help at a drug addiction treatment center shows that you are ready to try to recover and make all of your wrongs right with your friends and family. Your loved ones will need to get their own assistance in dealing with all that has happened through your addiction, including realizing that they may have enabled the addict to become as bad as they have. Finding their inner strength is going to take a lot of time and energy, since most relatives think it is only the problem of the addict. Often, they do not realize that by trying to save their lives or help them, they enabled them and allowed them to get worse.
While the beginning of drug and alcohol abuse is a choice, what happens after that choice often takes on a life of its own, which can be devastating to many. Addictions are very powerful and can take such a hold of you that you can no longer consciously control your actions. The need for the next fix is so potent that you can stop at nothing without feeling like your life is in peril. This propensity needs to be stopped, and finding help is the only answer; doing it alone as a family will not work. Finding a capable residential alcohol treatment center is the only hope, if you are willing and ready to begin a new life.